Michelle Cox, a small business owner in Maquoketa, Iowa, thought she was following the law.
In Iowa, teenagers as young as 14 are allowed to work until 9:00 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m. during the summer. So, since Michelle knew she was complying with state law, she thought nothing of it when teenagers who worked a few days a week at her restaurant stayed on their shifts until closing.
That is until the U.S. Department of Labor came knocking. Federal law requires teenagers to clock out by 7 p.m. on school nights and 9 p.m. in the summer.
Michelle, who was only trying to give teenagers in her community a safe place to learn new skills, make friends, and earn a paycheck, suddenly found herself caught in the middle of a conflict between state and federal child labor laws. Now she faces excessive fines and pressure from the federal government, despite immediately complying with the federal standards once they were …